Archive for May, 2010

My college roommate Laura is coming to visit this weekend. She’ll be here tomorrow morning through Sunday afternoon. I have some fun things planned, but I thought it would be fun to look back at our college years.

Here’s me with both of my first year roommates. Laura is on the right. This is Vegas Night, a big yearly party.

Laura came to visit me at my parents’ house before our sophomore year. We bought furniture for our living room, a very unusual thing to have in your dorm room at Mount Holyoke.

Alexis, Natalie, & Laura our first year.

Drunkenness sophomore year

We cheered for the Red Sox when they won the World Series in 2004.

This is one of my *favorite* memories. Laura left coffee sitting in a mug the entire semester, it spilled (milk and all) during reading days. Our room smelled AWFUL.

Watching the Junior Show our sophomore year.

Laura was an EMT, she’s center, which meant I got to take fun under-age drunk pictures with campus police like Kevin the Party Cop.

Here we are celebrating my 21st birthday. I have no idea why I look so miserable, it was a fun night.

Convocation our senior year. What I learned from looking at pictures of me totally drunk with other people is that they looked miserable.

We also did shots in the bathroom during convocation. I think that says enough about the experience.

Vegas night our senior year. Oh how things change.

My Super Bowl party senior year. Not clear why no one looks happy.

Strawberries and champagne our senior year.

Laurel Parade our senior year. (Isn’t crazy how we can delude ourselves about how we look? I would have told you I was basically the same size in the above picture as I was in the picture of my with the Spongebob hat.)

Standing outside our first year room when we were back visiting Mount Holyoke a year and a half after we graduated.

Laurel Parade at our two-year reunion.

There you have it. Some fun times in college and after. I’ll be back this weekend with an update of our fun times in NYC!

I had the strangest dream last night. I was supposed to cat sit for my friend when she goes to Turkey (which I’m doing in real life), but my parents and my brother were also going away and there was no one to watch their dogs (including the one who died last year who was now alive), bird, cow (which they don’t have), and another friend’s cat who I had volunteered to watch.

My brother hadn’t left for his trip yet so I made him show me want to do. We were supposed to kill the cow (!?!?), but after my brother shaved it and prepared it for killing it looked so sad that neither of us could kill it.

So I asked my friend if she wanted to cat, dog, bird, and cow sit since in my dream my parents lived in Brooklyn.

How strange, right? Also in the dream: my exroommate sent me a gift, the IT guy at work asked me who controlled the air conditioning, I started taking a different subway home, and I met up with two friends from college and a girl I went to high school with who I hadn’t thought about in years.

Anyway, this post is supposed to be about my birthday gift.

A new camera!

You all should know how much I love taking pictures. I’ve always felt kind of lame taking them with my point and shoot and I’ve never been able to do what I wanted.

So my parents were nice enough to get me a DSLR.

I haven’t taken it too many places yet because I haven’t had time, but I’m really impressed (with the camera, not my talent) by what I’ve done so far.

It also takes some good food pictures (if it weren’t for my parents’ ugly tablecloth I think this is very Smitten Kitchen)

And some really bad (my fault) food pictures

Obviously I need to learn what I’m doing. I have my eye on some lenses and I’m excited to go places and use the camera as an excuse to explore!

To keep up with my adventures I’ve started a Flickr account where I’m going to post all my pictures (and I’m adding some older stuff so it’s all together). Of course I’ll still post stuff here, but if you’re curious they’ll be there as well.

Finally, in all my birthday celebrations I put on a few pounds. I know that it sounds crazy that I’ve gained 4lbs in a week, but given how much I’ve drank and ate and how little I exercised I’m not shocked. I’m going to make a real effort to be better for the rest of the month and hopefully those extra pounds (and maybe a few more) will fall off.

I’ve decided to take some time off from running. For a while now, we’re talking months, my knees have been bothering me. But it’s never been anything that’s hurt while I was running and it’s just been a slight pain here and there, nothing that really made me worry.

But, over the past few weeks, it’s gotten more and more painful and I think I just need some time off. My plan as of now is to take from now until the end of June off from running, see how I feel in July, and, if it’s still painful, see a doctor.

Given the experience I had with the orthopedist and physical therapist about my ankle I would really rather avoid that whole scene.

This sucks for many reasons:

I can’t run the Brooklyn half marathon that I signed up and paid for

I really like running

The weather now is fantastic, perfect running weather

But there are also a lot of other positive things

I’m honoring my body by admitting that something is wrong and taking steps to fix it

I can focus on other forms of exercise including strength training

It stays light late enough for me to be able to workout at home or the gym and still go for a walk in the park

I’m not as upset about this as I thought I would be. I am sad, but I’m oddly not frustrated. I obviously don’t want to be in pain and even though I know I’m going to miss running and the great feeling of accomplishment and joy I get from it, the hiatus is only temporary.

Once I take the time off and I’m hopefully feeling better I want to start running again slowly, build my mileage up over time, and maybe run another half marathon in the fall.

You might remember the last opening at the Brooklyn Museum I attended? Well this one wasn’t as cool, there was no Blondie performance, but the clothes were amazing. I thought I’d share some of them here.

There were the super old fashioned pieces…

This was Queen Victoria’s outfit

Then there were the dresses that make me wish I went to fabulous parties…

And then there’s the stuff from 50 or so years ago that I would happily wear today…

(Seriously, if someone knows where I can get a dress like this (maybe without the hem on the bottom) let me know, I am in love.)

And then there was some cool random stuff…

(Not Michael Jackson’s)

The description said something about how little dogs were very popular in the 1920s, oh how things never change.

So if you’re in New York City and want to see a great exhibit I definitely recommend checking this one out. And the Brooklyn Museum is a great place to visit any time. Plus it couldn’t be easier to get to from Manhattan, promise. 🙂

I’m back! With my birthday craziness and being away at my parents’ house I just needed to check out for a while. And check out I did. But I’m back now with my normal Monday post and I have great plans for the blog this week.

Let’s go!

Monday

Lunch: eating out

Dinner: buffalo chicken pizza & broccoli

Tuesday

Lunch: work lunch (Cosi)

Dinner: buffalo chicken pizza & broccoli

Wednesday

Lunch: rice and beans

Dinner: out

Thursday

Lunch: snobby Joe

Dinner: broccoli pizza

Friday

Lunch: falafel & veggie

Dinner: TBD – something at home

Shopping List:

yogurt

fruit

Also, when I was walking home from the grocery store, I noticed this truck in the elementary school parking lot.

Apparently, PS 321, which is just around the corner from me, is participating in this Food Network program.

From their website:

The mission of the Good Food Gardens is to educate families on the importance of fruits, vegetables and other fresh, nutritious foods—key ingredients to ending childhood hunger.

It looks like they’re building the garden right next to the sidewalk

I’m not going to lie. I think this is a great thing, but it kind of sucks they’re doing it in one of the most affluent areas of Brooklyn. I know there’s poverty everywhere, but I feel like there are other schools in Brooklyn that could have used this more.

You all might have gathered that I’m kind of obsessed with sports. Not so much my playing them (my newly found love of kickball aside), but watching them.

My love for tennis is obvious. But then there’s the Olympics, the Super Bowl, college basketball, golf, and really anything else involving competition and suspense (except the NBA, I’m sorry, I don’t get it).

So it should come as no surprise that I’m really freaking excited for the World Cup.

I really like soccer (I wish I could call it “football” without thinking I sound like a total tool). I’m one of those Americans who wakes up early on Saturday mornings to watch the games on ESPN2. I love when the European teams come over to America in the summer to play their preseason games. And I really don’t understand why professional soccer isn’t more popular in the US.

Anyway, my big decision? Which team do I support in the World Cup?

Obviously I hope the best for the United States. I was born here, it’s the only place I’ve ever lived, but let’s been realistic; despite the fact that soccer should thrive here the US of A we’re not going to go far in the World Cup. Maybe we’ll make it out of our group (England is a shoe-in in my opinion), but beyond that I don’t think there’s anywhere else to go.

So, how do I decide? I don’t really know. I want a clear-cut team to support. And I don’t just want to cheer for them, I want to know about them. Most of the fun in my watching a sport is knowing something about the sport.

I’ve narrowed my potential teams down to a few options:

France: The only team whose language isn’t English whose language I (kind of) speak. Group A is a tough group, they might need my support.

Italy: Home of my ancestors. Also previous champions. Also lots of attractive men (not going to lie, call me mean and vain if you want, but it’s easier for me to cheer for him than it is to for me to cheer for him). Although I don’t feel like they’re going to win. (Listen to me, I’m like Miss Cleo here.)

Brazil: One of my good friends is from Brazil. Also, I think they really have a chance. However, I think the best time to cheer for them might be in 2014 when they’re playing at home.

Spain: Another of my good friends is from Spain. She’s also the only one to make a case for a nation. They also have cool jerseys (I’m purchasing the jersey of the team I decide to support). Again, hot men. Also, the only team among the ones I’ve mentioned never to have won a World Cup.

Argentina: Good jerseys and I just have a good feeling about them. Messi, their star player, is pretty much the best player in the world. And it’s been a while since a South American team one (going back to my Miss Cleo roots here).

I’m going to work on my research for the next week or so and hopefully I’ll have a decision soon.

Anyone want to make an argument for a specific team? Or share who they’re supporting?

And for anyone who doesn’t know the World Cup starts June 11 and goes until July 11.FIFA (the officiating body) has a great website with tons of information if you want to know more. Also, @grantwahl is a great Sports Illustrated soccer writer to follow on Twitter. He’s American enough for you to understand, but not so American that he dumbs stuff down.

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I'm a 27 year old who lives in NYC and works in publishing. After struggling with health and fitness for years, I feel I've finally found a way to live my life to its fullest. Read about my adventures in NYC and everywhere else, with a focus on trying to eat healthy and exercise.

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